Naruto: Third Generation
by bexywoo
Summary: This is the generation after Boruto's with new characters, new enemies and new jutsus. There may be a few familiar faces but most of the characters are my own. I hope you like it and I do not own Naruto.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello, this is my first fan fiction so I'm not sure if it's any good. It's quite a long one and I haven't finished writing it yet but basically I just loved the Naruto world and it gave me so much inspiration that I wanted to write a story about it. There are a few familiar faces in here but the main characters are mostly my own because I know I could never do Naruto and co. justice in my writing. They're just too amazing so I left them and their enemies behind in the anime and started a generation that comes even after Boruto's. I hope it is still recognisably the Shinobi world and that it's not boring. If anyone does decide to review then thank you very much for your time and I really appreciate your advice. I think it might be rated T but I've never done this before so sorry if I'm wrong. I'll keep adding chapters as I go. Thank you for reading.**

*prologue*

He fell down hard on the ground and nearly bit his tongue off at the sharp pain in his knee. He remained sitting to examine it. The skin around the deep jagged cut has gone strangely white, grey and lilac though it darkened quickly. Soon blood spilled over the thick crust of dirt that covered it and ran into his ripped trousers. He flexed his leg experimentally. The joint had suffered no damage itself though it did feel stiff and bruised already. He got to his feet. There was a piece of flint jutting out of the ground where he'd fallen. He prised it out of the mud and put it in his pocket. He'd suffered worse. He spotted a girl with a freckled face eyeing the cut queasily. There were a few titters as he walked to join the back of the line. He didn't look at whoever had pushed him. That way it would be like it had never happened. He wasn't going to start crying about it.

They studied the history of the Hidden Leaf all morning after introductions had been made. He followed as best he could from the back of the class whilst the thin trickle of blood dribbling into his shoe made his foot itch distractingly. This was why he hated wearing wet socks. He stayed inside at lunch time despite the bright sunshine and no one bothered him again, though his isolation did attract a few stares. He ignored them until the bell finally broke the class hubbub shrilly to signal home.

That afternoon he washed and sewed his bloody clothes and put a plaster over his knee just like mum would have done. He didn't kiss it though. He left the house to train and came back well after dark for supper. Dad would have made a rich autumn stew to celebrate the grand occasion of his first day at the academy and the house would have echoed loudly with his tuneless singing, but he had instant noodles instead. Then he went straight to sleep and fought with the demons that lurked in his dreams. When he woke, it was only three and he had to start the process all over again. A long hard day for a seven year old boy.

*four years later*

"Seventh, these are the academy graduates teams for this year." There was a soft thump on the desk as Sai placed the papers in front his boss.

There was a muffled "Uuugh!" from behind an enormous stack of scrolls. Sai could only here mutters of "...no time...still have so much work... where's my pen?... what does that say?... not another missing cat!..."

He gave the desk a hard whack as he had done a thousand times before and gradually a spiky blond head emerged from behind his work.

"What?" It was plain to see that he'd been up all night and having large quantities of ramen judging by the stacks of empty bowls either side if him and the dried soup around his mouth.

"New teams. From the academy. Your approval, please." Short sentences. It was the only way to get through to him when he was like this. He rubbed his eyes and wiped his mouth on his sleeve before giving him a much brighter look than he had a few moments before. Naruto's recovery time had always been astoundingly quick, even if it was just from admin.

"Right, right. How ...many?" He yawned loudly between the words. Sai fought down a yawn himself.

"Four teams this year." he said opening a window to let a cool draft through. Autumn was exceedingly hot this year and the breeze was welcome in the stuffy office. If everyone knew how very unglamorous being Hokage was then he was sure there would be a lot fewer eager replacements for Naruto knocking about than there were currently.

The Hokage nodded. "That's a good number. I have heard the students this year are bright but...head strong."

"Rowdy is more like it." Sai muttered.

"I wouldn't have them any other way. Enthusiasm isn't something that can be instilled easily in a student. Discipline however, can be learnt...most of the time."

"Shinobi are supposed to be disciplined all of the time. Focused. You and your son never learned that lesson." Sai grumbled.

"You sound like an old man." Naruto laughed.

"We are old men. Before long we'll have grand children." It was true. Both well into their late forties, their children were all ranked Jonin carrying out missions that befitted their elite skills and their hair had begun to turn grey a long time ago. Naruto's was lined with bright white streaks and he had formed deep lines around his eyes from when he smiled. He smiled nearly always. Sai didn't think in the history of any village there had been such a cheerful Hokage.

"I can scarcely wait for another bucket of paint to come sailing my way." Naruto sighed spinning ponderously in his chair to gaze out across the village. No doubt his grand children would be just as good at trouble making as he and his own son had been (and still was). Even his daughter had showed that same fierce will of fire from the moment she started her training. Another generation of Uzumakis running about would once again mean an end to peace in the Leaf Village.

"Tell me about the kids. What surprises to the next generation hold."

Sai took a seat on a stack of boxes and read out the first name. This was another part Naruto's ninja way he'd come to realise. He was a friend to nearly all the people in the village and knew each person's story almost as well as he knew his own. From the moment they left the academy Naruto had their names memorised, would speak to them each individually as often as he was able and do whatever he could to help them in and outside of training. Sai had told him time and again that this was what their own senseis and mentors were for but he'd always smiled and said "If I don't look out for all the little Kakashis, Gaaras and Sasukes, who will? I have an example to set. This is the most important time in their lives. If I can't even protect and support the children in their own home then I will have failed as a Hokage. Believe me, I know what it's like to be alone."

"Team one, Elaine Minami, Irri Minami and Loxas Miyamoto. Elaine and Irri are the twins. You've probably seen them. Their team work is outstanding and I didn't think they would tolerate being separated. We're hoping their grounded nature will somewhat tame Loxas. He's a real wild card and one of the most arrogant little highborn bastards I've ever met, though perhaps he has cause to be. His grades are actually very good and he's already starting to tackle some pretty advanced jutsus."

"Team Two, Tobi Nakahara, Luce Oshiro and Aoi Kito. Tobi is the laziest student that has ever graced the academy with his presence but his natural talents have thus far got him through all his training, just. He passed the final exam by one mark, probably deliberately. If he actually tried I think he'd really excel. Luce can hopefully give him the kick up the arse he needs. She could be leader material but her temper is short and she has been known to be violent with her class mates. She is however fiercely protective of Aoi who has always had a calming influence on her since they were very little. Aoi's a hard working student but is easily frightened. Her jutsus work well in practice but she has yet to use them on anyone in combat. Hopefully she will gain more confidence as training progresses. The three combined should make a well rounded team."

"Team three, Saraya Hamasaki, Kai Samato and Grey Ulda. Saraya has been known not to play well with others. Team work has been an issue in the past and for a while we did not think she even wanted to become a Shinobi. She seems happy enough around Kai though so we thought this might at least settle her. Kai himself is... well to be quite honest he is our top student this year. His grades are quite exceptional and his classmates really respect him. He'll probably be ready for the next Chunin exam if the rest of the team are. Grey can be rather... sullen shall we say. Others would call it argumentative. He isn't good at receiving orders and because he's so sensitive, every criticism is an insult. We are hoping Kai will keep both of them focused but..."

"You worry their might be fireworks?" Naruto finished.

"More than just worry but it's Ino who's their Sensei so they had better be on their best behaviour."

"You should know."

"Ha ha, very funny."

"And team four?"

Sai searched through his notes. He paused a moment frowning slightly before continuing. "You might call them the mystery team. Daiki Fukui, Numa Himura and Fin Hayashi. Daiki's a joker. Class clown. Plays the fool. His results were surprisingly promising in the final exam considering his general lack of concentration and pretty dismal grades all year. Numa we hope will keep him in line. She's a very serious girl but strong. Her jutsus match even with Kai's. She'll go far. Another one with brilliant leadership skills. And finally Fin. Diligent, quiet... he's caused no problems except when comes to combat... Then he has been excused. I honestly don't know if he's fit to even graduate despite passing finals. I trust you remember what happened five years ago?"

Naruto nodded, his blue eyes darkening. "Just like Sasuke."

Sai knew how deeply this news had resonated with Naruto and he had to agree that the similarities between the two cases were startling. But unlike the Uchihas, the Hayashis murder had had no press in the hidden leaf other than amongst himself and the Hokage. Naruto himself had spoken to the boy about it and how it would be easier at least whilst he was at school to not draw too much attention to the circumstances under which he had been brought to the leaf. The boy had sat in silence but nodded enthusiastically. Questions would have only dredged up further pain Sai knew from his own past. People who said talking about the bad things would make you better, were unlikely to have experienced trauma themselves. Reliving the experiences again and again for analysis and assessments, could end up make you feel ten times worse if you weren't ready for it.

There was no need to discuss his qualities. Naruto had kept a careful eye on the boy from day one though he had tried not to interfere too much with his personal life. It was a fine line he was treading. Even a Hokage such as Naruto was not meant to be the one giving individual pastoral care to anyone in the Hidden Leaf, no matter what their circumstances may have been. So he had been forced to watch from a distance and grind his teeth as the boy remained as quiet and restrained as ever. Always polite but never... never quite connected. An even sorrier state than Sasuke had been in... though perhaps a little kinder. And not, as it turned out, hell bent on revenge...yet. This team would prove interesting and possibly be the one most likely to suffer a break down, though he hated to admit his doubts. One bad apple rotting one of his four barrels was hardly be fair on the other graduates. But after structuring the other teams so carefully, these three if he was honest had been thrown together and there wasn't much he could do about it. Some genin had to graduate this year.

"You worry too much Sai." Naruto said with back still to him. His eyes looked far away, as if they were reaching for the horizon. Perhaps thinking about the war. They all did that some times. He and Ino had broken enough ornaments and crockery between them to sink a ship thinking about old battles and long lost friends. "The teams have my approval. Who knows? They might actually surprise us if we have a little faith in them. I know I have."

"Yes Seventh." Sai said getting to his feet and heading for the door.

"Oh and Sai? Send in Eighth would you? He wanted to see me." Naruto has gotten into the habit of calling Konahomaru Eighth. There was no doubt in Sai's mind who would be the next face carved into the stone cliff behind them. Konahomaru would make a fine successor to the Seventh Hokage of the Hidden Leaf.


	2. Chapter 2

Daiki could have hung sacks of flour on the tension in the room and it would not have lowered it an inch. They all knew what this day meant. It really did determine who you were going to be with possibly for the rest of your life. Who you would go on missions with, train with, fight with and die with too. Like marriage really. He'd been laughing nervously all morning which had quickly developed into hiccups. Each one echoed loudly around the hushed classroom as they waited for their Sensei and the noise was attracting several steely glares.

The door opened with its usual squeak and Sai Sensei entered the room carrying a clip board. He said down on his desk and crossed his feet on the floor in front of him. He smiled at their nervous faces and glanced down at the piece of paper in front of him.

"Good morning class. As you know you may potentially be leaving the academy today, if you meet the standards of your new Senseis. If you don't then we will be able to spend another joyous year together catching up with the rest of your peers considering why you didn't make it this year." This was met with silence and an anxious hiccup from him which became a loud belch. He covered his mouth with both hands and gave the ten pairs of angry eyes around him an apologetic look. Sai Sensei acted as if he hadn't heard.

"These are the teams." Sensei continued. "When you hear your name called gather yourselves together in your threes. Remember how long you are going to have to spend together before you start a fight. If you really can't stand it then you'll just have to wait until you can join a new team next year. If you can all think up better solutions to these arrangements and everyone's happy to change teams then by all means sort yourselves out. But for the next two weeks you're going to have to suck it up and train together as best you can."

There was some shifting in seats and anxious glances shared between each student. "Team one: Elaine, Irri and Loxas." The twins gave a loud whoop from the front row whilst a groan came from Loxas' end of the room.

Team two: Tobi, Luce and Aoi." He saw Aoi give a tiny relieved smile from her side of the room whilst Luce narrowed her eyes at Tobi who gave her a casual wave from where he reclined in his seat with his feet up on the desk. They actually stuck out over the edge because he was so tall. Both of them would tower over Aoi.

"Team three: Saraya, Kai and Grey." Saraya gave a happy squeal and actually stood up in her seat to give Kai a little wave. He smiled slightly nervously at her whilst nearly every girl and boy in the room squinted daggers at her. Grey just rolled his eyes and sulked.

Sudden realisation dawned on Daiki as his own team was called. "Team four: Daiki, Numa and Fin." He spotted Numa looking in his direction. Her lips were tight and her posture rigid. She was rather... Terrifying. But she wasn't looking at him. Her focus went past his ear towards Fin. He followed her eyes to where Fin was getting to his feet and walking towards them. His skin prickled as the boy sat down next to him smiling politely as ever. All this would have been well and good if Daiki hadn't seen him make the same expression after getting his but kicked by almost everyone in the class. Now all he could feel towards his new team mate was a kind of queasiness that made him want to edge as far along the bench as possible. For once he was lost for words. His team was made up of the two people that freaked him out the most in the entire class. How has he got lumped with both of them? It was clear from Numa's barely contained glower that she was thinking exactly the same thing. Probably something along the lines of "two of the worst students in the class are about to drown me with their uselessness and bad grades." He actually felt sorry for her. It was so obvious that she had wanted to be with Kai.

"So..." he said at last unable to bear the silence for a second longer. "Go team Daiki!" and gave the air a little punch.

Numa stared straight at the board pretending she hadn't heard although he saw her eyes narrow and her knuckles whiten as she gripped the lid of the desk. Fin shrank down a little in his seat as if he'd thought Daiki himself was about to punch him instead. "Don't all shout at once..." he muttered.


	3. Chapter 3

"Team one, Tenten Sensei will arrive shortly. Team two, Chogi Sensei. Team three, Ino Sensei. Team four...Shikamaru Sensei." The class room sat murmuring in their seats as their new teachers filed into the class room. The legendary Shinobi were... smaller than Numa had imagined, just as the Hokage was when you saw him up close. Despite the fact they lived in the village, these Jonin were more often than not away on missions. They scarcely had a weekend to themselves before they were sent out again. A job like this must seem mundane in comparison she thought glumly. And the day had started with such promise. Feet lighter than air on the way to school that morning, her last morning. Blue sky and warm sun, wind in her hair. Now she was positive the gravity holding her to the seat had just been tripled and her heart had been turned to lead. How had these two even graduated? She blinked quickly determined not to cry and did her best to smile politely as Shikamaru Sensei walked slowly towards them. He seemed to take forever, hands in pockets, pausing to look out the window as if the day interested him more than his new students. She could hardly blame him. The presence alone of these two dragged her performance down to zero or less. Only when he reached them did he actually pause to survey them. He was chewing on a bit of grass. "Cheer up. It might never happen." he said by way of introduction. It already has she wanted to reply but was scared if she did she might burst into tears and in that moment, her Sensei would lose any potential respect he might develop for her over the next few years forever.

At their lack of response Shikamaru Sensei smacked his forehead and muttered "What a drag..." before beckoning over his shoulder for them to follow him. She saw Ino Sensei give him an encouraging nod whilst she talked to her own students to which he responded with a shake of his head. That made her feel ten times worse. As they followed him through the village Daiki stepped in beside her. "He's right you know. You look like someone's died."

"Maybe someone will." she snapped though decided to glare pointedly at Fin instead. Fin didn't even see but had stopped to re-tie his shoe lace a few meters back. She whipped her head back round in disgust. Neither of them were taking this seriously at all. Now she knew how poor Luce felt, stuck with Tobi the slob. Except she was lumped with two hopeless cases both lacking in even Tobi's talent. She and Kai would have been the A team. Anyone else besides would have done. The twins or Luce and Aoi would definitely have been close second choices. Even Grey had more skills than these two combined. At least he could speak. The joker and the mute. What a cruel world she lived in.


	4. Chapter 4

"I have one test for all three of you. If one of you gets the right answer you all pass. Otherwise it's back to then academy for everyone."

"Another's test?!" Daiki yelled.

"Just one?" Numa asked.

Daiki mouthed "arse kisser" at her when Senesei's back was turned.

Fin said nothing.

Sensei Shikamaru ignored them both. Instead he held up three packs of cards. They looked tatty and gravy stained but Numa didn't let that fool her. They could be paper bombs.

"The village is under attack and about to be destroyed-."

"What?! Now? We have to go back and warn them!" Daiki shouted frantically.

"You catch on fast don't you?" Numa muttered.

"For arguments sake", Shikamaru Sensei continued, "You have time to evacuate only one person or group of people from these cards. Work separately and don't discuss it amongst yourselves. You can have five minutes to think about it. Be honest. I'll be watching so don't just copy each other. I want to hear your reasons for choosing the card you did afterwards or your reasons for not choosing the others, so they had better be good."

He dolled out the cards to each of them and they spread out to think though she saw Daiki look over his shoulder at her once or twice. Probably trying to copy her she thought sitting down on the grass and laying each card out in front of her. There was nothing hard about it. They read: Friends and Family, Jonin, Medical unit, Teachers, Carpenters, the Hokage and Children.

Her choice was instantaneous. She even had time to steal a glance at the other two. Daiki was doing the same. An easy choice for him too it seemed. Fin was... being consistently slow she thought irritably. He was probably still reading what the damn things said.

All three of them stood with chosen card when the five minutes were up. Shikamaru picked the card out of her hand first and examined it. "Why the Jonin?"

"When fighting a war you need soldiers Sensei. If they all died how would we win? And besides, the Hokage is only one person. However powerful he or she might be you can't win a war like that. You'd need a proper army or powerful Shinobi. The Jonin would be perfect."

He nodded sagely. "Logical." he murmured and picked up Daiki's. "Family and friends?"

Daiki actually blushed and stared at his shoes. "Sai Sensei always said ninja who left their friends behind were worse than scum."

"Compassionate." Shikamaru said, lips twitching as if remembering something. He paused in front of Fin and frowned at the card. His face became taught and the edges of his mouth quavered slightly.

"The children?" he said looking hard at Fin. "What makes them so special?"

"There isn't any point in winning a war if the future is lost." Fin said quietly. Numa saw his hands twist sharply behind his back as if he was trying to force himself back into his own skin. She had actually forgotten what his voice had sounded like.

"Wise." Shikamaru looked down at the card again nodding his head and... Smiling. Sensei was actually smiling! "You pass. You all pass." he said ruffling Fin's hair a little who shrank like a violet. "Couldn't have put it better myself." He scooped up the rest of the cards while Numa clenched and unclenched her fists.

"That's it? Did I get the right answer?"

Shikamaru looked almost as confused as she was. "What? No- wait. What do you mean?"

"What was the right answer? Sensei." she added almost forgetting who this slow idiot was. Legendary Shinobi? Please. That barely qualified as a test. More like a pop quiz. Where was the hard physical training? The complex jutsus they had to master? The surprise battle plan they had to compose in under a minute?

"Fin's of course. Weren't you listening to the explanation?"

"Yes Sensei." she said slowly as if speaking to a toddler whilst casting a glare at Fin who as usual didn't notice. How else could she get through to this man? "But children can't fight or win a war."

"Yeah and do you really expect us to put snot nosed kids we've never met before over our best friends? Over our parents?"

Shikamaru sighed and smacked his palm to his head for the second time that day. "Kids..." he muttered. "Need everything spelt out to them. Fin, I'll see you here seven thirty sharp tomorrow morning. You may go."

Fin gave Shikamaru a polite little bow and walked away, disappearing in the shadows beneath the trees.

"Quiet little fellow that friend of yours" Sensei commented sitting down on the grass and putting a long blade through his teeth. They sat down awkwardly in front of him.

"He's not our friend." Daiki muttered.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "I can see that. But you both might want to rethink your stance on this situation because, if I'm not mistaken, without him you'd be back at the academy with those snot nosed kids for another whole year and then be stuck in an even more mismatched team than you are today. You think Fin's content with the fact that you two have shown him nothing but spite since you were thrown together. Courtesy is luxury I don't indulge others with. Imagine the effort it took to suffer your glares all day without a word. Give the kid a little credit. Sure he's quiet but it isn't like either of you have bothered to actually talk to him, have you? Or for the four whole years you shared a class room with him. For heavens sake, how did you possibly avoid him in a tiny group of twelve for all that time? "

He shook his head looking truly baffled.

"Look. This is the first lesson I'm going to teach you so listen up. Take away two things from here and get them memorised. One; friendship is damn important just as Daiki said Numa. Kakashi Sensei learnt that lesson the hard way as you might have heard. But so are lives. So point two is; as Shinobi you may have missions where you do need to protect people you don't know. Whether they're particularly nice or not doesn't matter so long as you're doing your duty. Fin chose the children as his answer for one reason that raises them above the level of importance of any other category on your cards. My own Sensei taught me that they are the King. They are the Shinobi that will become the village when you are dead and gone. Their children in turn will do the same. In them our will of fire lives on. As long as the children survive, the village will never be destroyed. The buildings might crumble and the trees might burn for miles around, but as long as even one child remains, that is your village. That is the future. Protect it or die trying. That's my ninja way."


	5. Chapter 5

"Heavy stuff." Daiki muttered as they walked together back towards the village.

Numa was staring straight ahead with her hands balled into fists. Sensei had really laid into her back there it seemed. Little miss perfect had never had such a lecture before at the academy.

"But he did make some valid points." he continued. "About Fin for example. Maybe we should... I don't know... Have some ramen together or something. What do you think? Just the three of us? It might be good to get to know each other a bit. Even if it's only for two weeks-."

Numa stopped dead in her tracks her eyes widening slightly. "You're right. It's only two weeks." Suddenly she turned towards the trees and started running.

"Wait! So you mean you'll do it?"

"Do what?" she yelled over her shoulder.

"Get together! Have a talk! You know...like a proper team?"

She didn't reply but he wanted an answer. He ran after her leaping from branch to branch as quickly as he could. Man was she fast! He almost lost her twice in the first five minutes and she didn't even appear to be trying.

"Numa! Just wait a minute! Where are you going?"

And like that, she was gone. He stopped to catch his breath and looked around. There was no sign of her. He hurled a kunai knife angrily at a tree and watched it tear right through, and sink hilt deep into the one behind. He was built for strength, not speed. This part of the forest he did not recognise and it was way outside the boundary of the leaf village. He turned back towards home. He'd just have to train some more and prove himself to Sensei. There was no way he was going to be outclassed by her.

He took a step forwards and froze. All he could think was "Oh shit oh shit oh shit" over and over again as he fought to control his urge to run away. His second thought was "she wouldn't, would she?" but thankfully logic took over and he realised she wouldn't have had nearly enough time to make a trap this elaborate. And finally he turned his head from side to side to take in his surroundings to find to his dismay that he was already right at the epicentre of a collage of hundreds of paper bombs.


	6. Chapter 6

The good news was that she'd finally lost Daiki. The bad news was as she ran to her favourite place to hang out with Kai, he wasn't there. She might have expected it. Unlike her, Kai was loved by everyone in his class and there was no one who wouldn't want to be on a team with him. He was even friends with Grey the sullen who rarely could bring himself to even speak with anyone and Saraya the princess, who she despised and was despised by. It was time to start planning ahead. The idiot had gotten one thing right. This was a two week arrangement. After that, they would be able to choose their own teams. She'd be able to be with Kai and anyone (except the idiot, the princess and the mute) would be able to join them. All she had to do was draw up teams for the rest of the class to be in to work around that idea. The situation had almost seemed hopeless until she was reminded of that. A team with Kai! The thought made her giddy with excitement.

She doubled back to the village for lunch and to search for her best friend. She ended up, after walking aimlessly from favourite haunt to haunt, sitting on a roof top anxiously nibbling a rice ball until she saw him arrive an hour later.

"Numa! What are you doing here? Did you pass?"

"I...yeah I'm in." Though technically she had had to rely on the mute's wishy washy answer but she didn't feel like admitting that right this second.

"Great!" Seeing him in such a good mood made her heart tap dance in her chest and melt at the same time. She loved that smile. Those perfect white teeth and the little dimples in his cheeks. He plucked a rice ball out of the bag resting on her lap and took a bite.

"Hey!"

"Oh, this isn't for me then?"

Of course it was for him. She wouldn't have thought to get extra for anyone else.

They talked for a long time until afternoon stretched into early evening. But when she finally grabbed the question with both hands and forced it out into the open he seemed confused.

"You want to switch teams? But Numa..." She saw his cheeks redden in that flustered way he had when he was trying to think of a way to approach a difficult situation but the answer he'd come up with was too embarrassing to admit.

"What? You don't? But this is what we said we'd do in the first place... So that we could always be together."

"Well... You've got to try and understand... We have to think of other people over what we want. We can't just go switching teams around because we're not happy with where we've been put. Other people might have really bonded with who their with already. And besides, the Senseis would never allow it." Trust Kai to be the noble one, always thinking of others.

"But I thought this was what you wanted. This was your idea."

"Except that I don't really mind the team I'm on Numa. Grey is actually okay once you get to know him and Saraya even brought me lunch today. She made it herself. She's a really good cook, you know?" Numa knew. Damn that girl! Trying to snatch Kai away from her as if she knew him at all. Little miss princess was so dead.

"What I'm really trying to say is that I don't want to be the one who goes changing everyone around. Sai Sensei put a lot of thought into making sure the teams we were on would work effectively together. Give them a chance... who were you with again was it? The joker and the mute?"

"Yeah." she said feeling her eyes sting. She looked down so he wouldn't see. There was no hope. She'd be stuck with these losers forever. A lot of thought, her arse! She knew exactly what had happened. Teams one, two and three combinations had worked so well that there was just no way that Sai Sensei could change his mind about those. Team four were just the bits left over. The shit Shinobi left behind. And that meant that she... she fell into that category too. Did Kai think that too? No wonder he didn't want to be on a team with her if that was the case. But Kai was her best friend. She knew that she was just being irrational. He would never think that way about her.

"They can't be that bad can they? I mean it's not like they're horrible people or anything... They just... Struggle with ninjutsu, that's all."

"That's all? How can I be expected to go on real missions with them Kai? A ranked missions or even B ranked? If I can't switch teams now then that's my career as a Shinobi over. I'll have to drop down to the year below-."

"Don't you think you're blowing this a little out of proportion? Even if we were on the same team we'd still have to work with other people or separately from time to time. Besides, this way we can both be team leader."

"Team leader?" The thought caught her off guard. "What do you mean? Our sensei's are our leaders."

"Right yeah but-."

"You're starting to sound like your dad."

"Hey, now that's not fair."

She put her hand over her mouth realising what she'd just said in an attempt to stuff the words back inside. His eyes were blazing with hurt and anger.

"I'm sorry." she said quickly. "I didn't mean it Kai. I was just being stupid. I haven't been having a very good day."

"Well... I guess that's alright then." he muttered. His overbearing father was a sensitive subject with Kai and she should have known by now not to bring him up in conversation.

"Do you want me to go?" she asked after a few minutes. She hated it when he got like this. The silence was unbearable. She wasn't sure if she wanted to hear his answer or not.

"No."

"Then please don't hate me."

"I don't hate you. When did I say that? Of course I don't hate you. I know how hard this is on you but please trust me on this one and try and bear with it. It's not as if we're never going to see each other again. I'll come and find you as soon as training is over every single day. That's a promise."

She gasped as he cut his thumb with a Kunai and wiped a smear of blood on her palm. "A promise." he repeated and she knew he wasn't lying. How could be when he'd sworn in blood? They would always be together.


	7. Chapter 7

In theory disarming a paper bomb was easy. Just cut the thread of chakra that the detonator was attached to and it became relatively harmless. But there was a snag. That could only be done if there was no chakra thread linking it to other paper bombs via a main detonator. If there was then it acted in the exact same way as setting off a trip wire. And worse still, not only one would go off, but every single paper bomb it was attached to. And that meant he'd be stuck in the middle of the mother of all explosions.

It is only when being forced to stand very still does one become acutely aware of balance. That was the problem Daiki faced right now. In front of him he could count twenty eight chakra threads and that was just in his field of vision. One literally ran inches from his nose and another straight through his legs. Chakra threads are extremely sensitive to a persons chakra other than the persons who made the paper bomb. Even his presence might be enough to break one of them. His panicked pupils for once could actually see faint auras of chakra burning along the near invisible threads. They could easily have been mistaken for spider webs they were so fine. And that would make him a fly.

He hoped Numa was happy now. She'd get exactly what she always wanted. With him dead he didn't doubt they'd put her on a team with Kai. It wasn't as if a team of four was unheard of-.

Shut up and focus Daiki! he scolded himself. You are not going to die! The world would suck more of you did. Or rather he hoped it would. He concentrated and turned his head almost 180 degrees on either side of himself. He was surrounded and worse still he had no idea how far the trap went. He had a feeling that this wasn't just meant for one person. Unless that person was really hard to kill. And something like this would have taken time which meant there was a chance it had been done by someone actually in the leaf.

His emotions were building, fear primarily, and that was not good. With any sort of strong emotion came chakra, a lot of chakra. He tried to stop them but eventually tears came spilling down his cheeks and fell onto his shoes. It blurred his vision as he tried to duck and step under and over each thread in the direction of the village. They became more close knit the further he went and despite his efforts he only began to cry harder. Some Shinobi he was! It was supposed to be his job to protect the village. To not fear death. This was just a baptism by fire, that was all. Something he'd have to get used to when he went out on real missions. Numa wouldn't have broken a sweat at something like this. But he wasn't Numa. He hadn't even started training yet. There was only one thing he could do now. He took a scrap of paper out of his pocket whilst keeping his back against a tree and began folding furiously. This might be... his only redemption.


	8. Chapter 8

Shikamaru lay on the roof top of the school and pondered on his team. Had he been so cold and self absorbed when he was young? So quiet and timid? So placid...so...so... Badly suited to his team mates? Ino and Chogi were like his family now. Even closer than that. They'd had plenty of spats to be sure but there had never been indifference between them. Or hatred.

"What a drag..." he muttered watching a flock of birds scatter overhead. One separated from it and flew directly into the sun which momentarily dazzled him. He sat up blinking as it landed beside him and rubbed his eyes. He watched its progress as it hopped confidently over the tiles and onto his knee. It was white all over except for some sort of black scrawl along its straight rigid wings. It cocked its head at him and pecked at his leg.

"What the...?" He reached out and picked it up and it went limp instantly in his hands. Paper. He unfolded it and scanned the contents. The hand writing was poor but the message was clear:

 _Sensei, paper bombs in hundreds, maybe thousands on west side of the leaf. Not sure how far they extend but I'm kind of stuck at the moment. Would recommend warning all Shinobi immediately and evacuating all civilians underground until this blows over. Tell mum I'm fine and not to worry. Daiki._

And like that, chaos ensued.


	9. Chapter 9

Daiki sweated for a moment as he read the reply:

 _Message received and carrying out recommendations immediately. Are you alright? Do you need assistance? Shikamaru._

Yes! He thought. I need help damn it. Get me the hell out of here! But he knew that that was impossible. There was no way someone could reach him in here without getting both of them killed. It was logical that he find his own way out. That was probably what they wanted him to say anyway. Heart thudding he wrote his reply:

 _Surrounded so no. Will attempt to find main detonator whilst I am here. Keep clear and scout for more paper bombs. If someone got close enough to do this then they might as well be inside the village too. Take no chances._

The reply took a long time in coming and by that time he was already on the move again. That was the only way he'd get out of here alive. By heading into the most deadly part of the trap for the main detonator. If he did that... well...less paper bombs would go off. It would by no means stop all of them but he'd have more of a chance to escape than if he did otherwise.

 _Daiki, don't be reckless. We'll come and help as soon as we know the leaf is safe. Just stay where you are and don't touch anything!_

Yeah like that was going to happen. What was it about grown ups and their false promises? He was too used to hearing those from his dad to be swayed by them anymore. What would the cheating wanker say if he saw him now? Not that he'd care. If he was going to get out of here he'd do it his way and on his own. It was just a training exercise he told himself clambering along a branch and dropping down into a clear area.

Four hours passed and he'd moved fifty meters. He'd stopped crying ages ago and had received no other messages from the leaf. All he could think about was how a drop of sweat infused with his own chakra could mean the end of his life. He was dehydrated, hungry and exhausted from concentrating so long. He didn't even need to pee anymore he'd lost so much water. Every movement could be his last. The trees around him were now coated with paper and everyone had a mess of threads leading to other pieces of paper. It was like the most mammoth problem solving task on how to survive that he'd ever had to do. The silence was also pretty terrifying. There was no bird song, no breath of wind, nothing. He was completely and utterly alone. And with a glance at his watch it would be dark in an hour. He'd have to sleep here. Or rather prevent himself from going to sleep. He couldn't risk his moving limbs in the night even brushing past one of these threads. Although on the plus side, at least if he was asleep, he'd just die without agonising over it first.


	10. Chapter 10

"Where is my son!"

"Mrs Fukui, you must try to remain calm. We're doing the best we can." Sai said in the most soothing voice he could manage. At parents evenings he'd always found Daiki's mother a most understanding and agreeable lady even if her son wasn't receiving the most favourable comments about his school work. Yet now he could see why everyone else on the other hand, described her rather as formidable when in Shinobi attire. If her son or her village were threatened, she could turn from mother to monster in the blink of an eye. It was as if waves of chakra were radiating off her body ready to drown him and everyone in the office.

"It's getting dark now and no one has even tried to look for him! You should have been looking after him on his first day of training!" she added rounding on Shikamaru who was chewing his thumb nail in the corner of the room. No tears for this woman. There was only fury and unfortunately, Sai was on the receiving end.

"Your son is a Genin Mrs Fukui, training to one day be a Chunin and maybe even a Jonin. He'll be at risk every single second when he's on a mission."

"Don't be absurd! You wouldn't send twelve year old children on A rank missions. Please! And you call yourself a teacher! You have a duty of care! For gods sake let me out of here so I can go and look for him. You're wasting time! Let me at least send him a message."

"Mrs Fukui, please try to understand. We won't be much good to Daiki if we're trying to find him in the dark and any message you send to him could risk colliding with the explosives. The network of paper bombs out there is as extensive as your son said it would be. It goes nearly all the way around the village and if the culprit knows we're onto them then they could blow the whole place sky high at any moment. If you or any of us go out there now, even if someone was using Byakugan, we'd be putting him at more risk than ever. For the good of the village we must think of a logical solution to overcome this problem-."

"For the good of the village? My son is a problem that needs to be solved now, is he? I've gotten too used to hearing that from his father and I certainly won't take it from you! If he dies it's all your fault! Your fault for putting him on a damned dysfunctional team as if he didn't matter as much as the rest of your A grade students, you fault for brain washing him into doing self less things that would get him killed and your fault for not scouting the village properly for such colossal threats like these! It could have been anyone's child who got caught out there-"

"And anyone else's child who would already gotten themselves out rather than bringing the entire village into it. Kai would never have gotten into so much trouble in the first place" Ivan Samato interrupted leaning casually against the desk as if it were his own.

There was a bang and the building trembled. All their heads turned to see the Hokage standing in the door way with his fist embedded in the wall. His face was like thunder.

"Enough, all of you." he said softly, walking into his office. "If I must, I will go and find Daiki myself. Ivan apologise to Mrs Fukui and then go home and piss someone else off. Now." With the grace to look a little humiliated the younger man did just that and left.

"Sai, go and get Mrs Fukui some tea." Seventh continued gesturing to a seat for her to sit on.

"Shikamaru go and see to the rest of your team. Make sure they aren't planning to do anything reckless. I'm sure this has hit them pretty hard." Shikamaru bowed to Mrs Fukui before shutting the door on the two of them. He glanced at the crater in the wall and imagined what would be left of Ivan's head of he had been standing there. Easy to forget sometimes what a powerful Shinobi their Hokage was. Samato really was an odious little prick.

Still... As much as Shikamaru hated to admit it, Numa and Fin probably wouldn't take this as much of a hit. Or at least Numa probably wouldn't and he had no idea where Fin was, though he hadn't mentioned that to Naruto. He had his hands full enough as it was with dealing with the present crisis. After not too much searching he found his student sitting next to Kai in the underground bunker that was most strongly fortified to protect the children and any mothers with babies. He had fallen asleep with his head on her shoulder but she didn't seem to mind. For some reason it reminded him disturbingly of the way Sakura had cared for Sasuke when ever they went on missions together. From the way she was sitting, it was clear to him how much she wanted their friendship to mean so much more. To mean things that this boy hadn't even thought about yet. It seemed cruel to pull them apart but at present Shikamaru wasn't feeling any particular warmth towards either of them. If the boy grew up to be anything like his father then he might as well knock his head against a the wall now to save anyone else the trouble later.

He beckoned his student to follow him until they were safely out of earshot of anyone else.

"Your team. Do you know where they are?"

She shrugged and pointed her thumb over her shoulder at the hoard of children milling around the cramped space.

"Not sure if they're here Sensei. They might be with their families on some of the upper levels if they were stubborn enough."

He nodded slowly and beckoned her further away from the door.

"Tell me again, where do you think they are?"

She frowned confused. "They might be on one of the upper levels like I said. I haven't seen them cause there are so many people-."

"Tell me where your team is."

Her gaze shifted from side to side as if thinking and then shrugged timidly.

"I don't know Sensei. I don't know what else you want from me-"

"God damn it Numa! I've been your Sensei for one day! One day, and do you know what I've see so far?" He was shouting now and he didn't care how much attention he was attracting or how terrified his pupil looked. He didn't care if she had tears in her eyes or how crushing his words would be to her. "Poor qualities to be found in a Shinobi, that's what! Poor anger management, poor communication skills, a dreadful lack of compassion, colossal lack of team work and unwillingness to follow orders. The last one I can excuse but the rest... Does that boy mean so much to you that you wouldn't even bother to make sure your team mates are all safe? Leadership material! So far I've yet to see it. Being in a team is hard. Believe me, I know. But no matter what you do in the future, you're always going to have to work with other people. Be a part of something bigger. If you can't learn that now then go back to school, or better yet, start thinking about a different career path. You may not like them but right now, both of your team mates are missing, perhaps dead. Get your act together Numa and get this into your head. That boy can't give you what you want and I think you know it too. For as long as I've lived, no one has ever changed teams unless the other members are deceased or they join the black ops. Lives are at stake this very minute. Two lives in particular that should mean something to you. If you can't handle all of this then... then you don't belong in our ranks, but theirs." He pointed at the children gathered in the door staring wide eyed at the pair of them and walked away.

He hated himself and doubtless his pupil did too. This wasn't the way it was supposed to be. Maybe he'd been too hard on them for their first day. Asuma had been so cool around them when they started out and remained that way until his death. How would he be remembered? Or would he be remembered? Surely it wasn't just him being cruel... was it? He sat up on the Hokage's roof and put his head in his hands. He was a terrible teacher. Why had he even agreed to do this job?

"Rough night huh?"

He looked up and saw Naruto standing with his hands in his coat pockets staring at the stars. It flapped around him in the light breeze.

"Yeah." he sighed eventually. "Aren't you meant to be doing something... Hokageish?"

Lord seventh actually laughed at that but didn't look round. "What do you think I'm doing right now?"

Shikamaru hung his head."So you heard already?"

"Heard you loud and clear. Didn't realise you could shout though. I thought it was all too much... of a drag."

Shikamaru closed his eyes. He must have made a real spectacle of himself and in front of all the children too. "I'm not cut out for this Lord Seventh. You knew that at the start. Put me out in the field. I'll do anything. On my own if I have to. But teaching? Forget it. Kids hate me. And today, I think I hate kids. You're the people person. Not me."

Naruto nodded slowly. It was hard to believe he was the same guy from all those years ago. That he'd be telling him his problems and asking him to deal with them even when he had a million and one other things he was supposed to be focussing on.

"I understand where you're coming from Shikamaru. Hinata's out on a mission this month. And the kids are off doing their thing. They sure do grow up fast. Makes me look like an old housewife, all this desk work and training on my own. I sometimes feel a bit tied down by all of this...responsibility."

Shikamaru looked up at him and saw that he was still talking to the stars. "But then again... I like the weight of it. I have liked the weight of it. It's been like having thousands of different students all at once. One crazy party every day. Some of them didn't really like me at first and some still don't. But something told me that... I should never give up on a single one of them. And I don't suppose I ever will. Patience really ages you, if you know what I mean."

Shikamaru did. His hair had started getting grey streaks long before other people his age.

"What I'm trying to say is you're used to leading trained Shinobi. Ones that have been moulded and shaped and refined. I couldn't think of a better commander to have in battle. But these kids haven't had the training you or I have. Or experienced war. They're fresh out of school and the future is a mystery to them. That's why they need someone like you. Someone to train them. Kids can adapt if you give them time. Evolve. In your team, you may have the makings of some of the finest Shinobi this village has ever seen. Look at Daiki. He could have been screaming for help for the whole village to hear and we would have all ran right into that trap. But instead he thought straight away of the precautions everyone should be taking. He saved his village. Chakra threads are easy to miss and the number of paper bombs I've set off in my adult life is positively embarrassing. He's made a better start than most."

"I don't know Naruto." Shikamaru sighed rubbing his eyes. "Maybe I was expecting too much of them. Asking them to do and learn things it took me my life time to work out. But I am not really a patient man. I want to go and find my students now and begin taking them on missions this minute."

"Then why don't you?"

He looked up and frowned at his Hokage.

"You're talking about putting thousands of lives at risk. One broken trip wire and the whole village goes up in flames."

"Yeah, but we haven't got forever. And neither has Daiki. Even if those things never get set off, your student will probably die of thirst or hunger sooner or later."

"Don't talk about that so casually. He's only twelve years old and without a day of training."

"And with a mother worried sick about him too, you're right. So what to do?"

Shikamaru only just realised he was munching on a bowl of ramen as he said this.

"I... wait you mean you really don't know?"

"Not a clue. But I thought you might have some ideas."

"I... I want to disarm those bombs."

"Uh huh."

"But it's pitch black in there and even if I could see, I'd probably be unable to get through anyway."

Naruto nodded calmly whilst stuffing noodles into his mouth.

"We could just blow the damn thing. But Daiki is still inside." He rubbed his temples in an attempt to soothe his pounding headache. "Ahhrgh, I don't know what to do. I hate this!"

Naruto drained his soup and sighed. "Or we could have some faith in the boy. He sounded to me as if he was going to do something in his message. Perhaps he can handle it. Either way we're stuck here until it gets light."

Finally he turned and looked at Shikamaru. "I don't condone your actions in case you were wondering. You taught your student a tough lesson. That the people she'll have to work with won't necessarily be the ones she knows and likes. But don't give up on them. Give them all another chance. In fact, screw that, give them a thousand more chances if that's what it takes. And if you think you've had a bad day then... Well let's just say the other three Senseis are struggling to adjust to the new generation as well."

Shikamaru sat back after he was gone, lit up a cigarette and puffed away into the night air. If he ever saw his students again, this was going to be the toughest challenge he had ever faced.


	11. Chapter 11

Daiki lay on his belly in front of the main detonator using twig to carefully peel away each individual paper bomb that was plastered onto it. He was holding his breath and sweat came pouring off his face with every move that he made. Scarcely a foot above his head were six different chakra threads and the trees looked as though they were made of paper bombs. Seriously, who had the time on their hands for something so extreme? It wasn't just the terror either that made him perspire, but the heat too. It was hotter than he'd ever remembered it being and he'd actually left his jacket and t-shirt nearly 100 meters behind him in an attempt to cool off. It was becoming so hard to concentrate and his hands shook so badly, that he thought he might hit one of the many thousands of chakra threads protruding from this thing like it were the basket on a hot air balloon. But he'd gone too far to turn back now.

He hadn't slept all night and had sweated and cried so much the day before that now dehydration was becoming a serious issue. It was twenty four hours since he'd last drank or eaten anything and there was no food or water out within reach at all. If he could have pissed, which he couldn't, then he was almost certain that he would have drank it. His head hurt so much he thought it was going to split open, particularly when light shone on his face. He was surprised that he could even think in a straight line let alone deal with high explosives.

"Daiki."

Oh this was great. Now he was starting to hear things. So he was dealing with high explosives and he was crazy too.

"Don't do that."

No, he was going to ignore the little voices inside his head. And the fairies and gnomes that were trying to steal his shoes. He was just going to focus-

"Daiki, you idiot. Listen to me! Turn to your right and look at me!"

He turned expecting to see nothing and finding Numa instead. She was lying twenty meters away but apparently unable to get any closer. She was using some sort of telescope to watch what he was doing. And now he was seeing things. Though he'd never thought Numa would be part of his fantasies whilst he was hallucinating. It was actually surprisingly irritating. As irritating in fact as if she has been...real.

"You"re actually here aren't you?" he said matter of factly and pressing his face into the grass in resignation.

"Yes! God if I could hit you I would!"

"Why of all people did they have to send you?"

"I wasn't sent I... I just came on my own."

"You hate me too much for that." he mumbled into the grass. Darkness felt so good right now.

"I can let you blow yourself up if you like." she retorted pushing her telescope shut with a violent click.

"Hey wait!" he yelled looking up as she began crawling away. "Sorry! I'm sorry, okay? I'm just... really... really tired."

She stopped and turned back towards him. She was so far away it was hard to see how her face looked but he could see no contempt or anger. In fact she seemed kind of sad.

"You look terrible." she said at last.

"Hmmm." he said putting his face back in the grass. If he could just sleep.

"I'd come closer-."

"No, stay where you are. If you come any closer you'll get stuck and trip a thread."

"Um...okay."

"Listen. Once I start doing this you should get out of here."

"No way!"

"Yes because I'm a screw up and I'll probably get you killed."

"That's not true. I can help you. You weren't doing it right before but I'll talk you through it."

"You can't control my hands from there and I don't even think I can control them from here."

"Well then we're just going to have to do this slowly, aren't we?"

"No. You don't understand. I could kill you!"

"But I got you into this mess, didn't I? I lead you through here and you got caught. There is no way I am running away from this."

"Numa don't-"

"Daiki, just calm down and breathe. The chakra threads are weak enough as it is."

He nodded as they both eyed the webs of death around themselves warily.

"Look, with me here, we can get this done in two hours tops and get out of here in one. I'm not going to leave you behind. Not like this."

"I... Um...Okay."


	12. Chapter 12

Numa could be patient when she had to be and there was nothing like a life or death situation to test your communication skills. So what if she felt guilty? At least she was doing something. What do you think of that Shikamaru Sensei? Good enough Shinobi for you? Okay, so she had some pride but after being humiliated like that in front of everyone that may ever have respected her in the future, she wasn't about to stick around. In fact being near suicidal made a decision like this one easier than it ever would have been otherwise.

It also helped that Daiki wasn't as dumb as he looked. In fact, he was surprisingly smart.

A part of her couldn't believe he was doing all this having had no sleep, food or water for over twenty seven hours now.

She yawned as he peeled away the last paper bomb from the detonator and placed it on the ground beside the others.

"Okay, can you see the explosive now?"

"Yeah."

She looked through her telescope. "Move your elbow you idiot. I can't see a thing."

He moved it carefully and she saw a tight ball of what looked like glowing red plastic explosive with thousands of threads keeping it suspending above the ground. The idea was that if a paper bomb detonated then the chakra from the blast would be transferred down the thread and the others would detonate automatically in a chain reaction. To add to that terrible threat, if any one of the threads was pulled out, a tiny burst or chakra would be released and like a spark... well, they wouldn't even have time to blink.

She gave a low whistle. "This is going to be interesting."

"What do you want me to do?" he croaked.

"Um... Well in theory you cut all the threads and remove the detonator. They won't act like trip wires in the same way as the other threads because the person who set this thing up would need to make sure they could disarm it somehow if something went wrong. After that, the circuit will be broken and we can disarm each bomb separately. All you have to do after that is make sure the main detonator doesn't come into contact with any of your chakra. In other words, don't touch the damn thing!"

"I gotcha..." Numa turned her telescope towards his face and grimaced. He was still sweating buckets even though he must have lost litres of water already. His eyes kept drifting off to the side as if something else was catching his attention more than the bomb in front of him. And he was really really pale despite the raging sun beating down on them through the trees and the stiflingly still air.

"Daiki?"

"Mmmhmm?"

"Focus now. It's almost over and then I can get you out of there."

"Okay."

He reached forwards and looked as if he were about to grab hold of a bunch of strings at a time. She almost screamed and then he stopped and took out his Kunai. She had thought he was about to yank them all out. Without any deliberation whatsoever he began slicing through the threads like he was dead heading flowers off a plant. Her heart slammed against her rib cage as he slashed through hundreds at a time, fluidly and without a moments hesitation.

Ten seconds later there was a tiny thump and it was over. No bombs had gone off. They were safe...er.

Threads parted on either side of her and tiny flares of chakra scattered into the air and onto the ground like flaming red tears.

She walked through the redundant web and crouched down next to her team mate on the ground. "You okay?"

He nodded and sat up. She noticed his hands were shaking but decided to make nothing of it.

"Come on then-"

She froze about to offer him her hand when a shock wave of feeling hit her.

Daiki moaned and collapsed to the ground and holding his head in his hands. "Where is that coming from Numa? Who's chakra is that?"

"Shhh. Let's get out of here. Hopefully we won't be noticed."

She yanked him to his feet and hauled his arm around her shoulders. Not as heavy as she was expecting. And he didn't stink as much as she thought he might. She moved as fast as she could, directing every bit of chakra she had into her legs and feet to propel them along. Daiki was clutching his head like the chakra was somehow affecting his already exhausted body. But he didn't make a sound.

She heard a thin whistling and before she had time to react six shuriken embedded into her calf to the bone and she fell with a scream to the ground. She pulled them free with a sob and half dragged herself back to Daiki who was lying on his side motionless by a tree root, staring at nothing. She snapped her fingers in front of his eyes and turned his head to look at him. His nose was bleeding... and his ears... and his eyes. Shit. She bent her head to listen to his heart. Beating but too fast. He was still sweating and his pale skin burned.

"What the...?"

"Surprised he lasted that long. Some stamina your friend has girl. But they don't last forever. No one does. Lives I find are almost identical to autumn leaves. Colourful, crisp and fleeting. Riddled with decay."

She turned her head slowly to find herself nearly nose to nose with a red man. His skin was stained the colour of blood and his hair matted with rust. His eyes had no irises, only tiny pupils at the centre of bloodshot white.

She opened and shut her mouth as he picked one of the shuriken up and licked her blood off the length like an ice cream. He closed his eyes, savouring the flavour.

"Such a pretty face. It is a shame that you had to be the one to partake in the destruction of my little creation. But no matter. If sending children is the leaf's idea of a defence then I can see overcoming this tiny obstacle won't be nearly as much of a problem as my masters made it out to be-."

She lunged for him in a whirl of her skirt and sliced his neck, eye, chest and thigh simultaneously. Then she threw all her force behind a deadly tornado attack that would have severed his head had he not deflected it with a swipe of his blade. It went spinning away at an angle and decimated a line of ten trees.

He stepped backwards with a slight raise of his forehead though he had no eyebrows to back up the expression.

"Tell me what you've done to him! Who are you! Why are you doing this!"

He blocked three more of her attacks easily with a single kunai before answering.

"So many questions my dear, but I am afraid that the answers will have to wait another few years. And you shall not be alive to hear them."

There was a flash and a clang in such quick succession that she didn't even have time to register it.

She sat down hard with her arms thrown in front of her face to somehow protect herself. After a few long seconds she peeked through at her opponent.

He was pinned hard against a tree trunk covered in some strange jutsu that looked like a dark haze of smoke.

She felt two strong arms lift her to her feet but discovered to her horror that they were completely black as if the flesh had somehow been charred all over.

"You okay?"

She looked up and saw a figure standing on a branch directly over her head. "I...yeah I'm fine. But my friend-"

"Just take him to the medical corps as quickly as possible. You have two minutes to get clear of this forest."

"Who are you?"

"Hurry or you won't make it in time."

"But what about-"

"I've dealt with as many of the paper bombs as I could but none of them that are in this area. One minute fifty two. Get going."

"O-okay."

She dragged Daiki onto her back and limped away as fast as she could, adrenaline coursing through her blood and dulling the pain in her leg. She glanced down once and it was enough. Dark crimson.

Her watch was ticking too fast and she was moving too slowly. She only had a minute and a half. Maybe less. And Daiki's dead weight only made her situation all the more desperate. As she struggled along the realisation of her own mortality hit her like a tonne of bricks. The prospect of death had been hammered into her head since she was five years old but facing it was entirely different. She didn't want to die yet. There was so much she still hadn't accomplished. She could hardly call herself a real Genin yet. And she hadn't said goodbye to Kai. Or apologised to Shikamaru Sensei for being a terrible Shinobi. Tears rolled down her cheeks and she could hardly breathe as she saw the thirty seconds remaining of her life splinter away into nothing. The edge of the trees was still ten meters away when the explosion hit.

Free falling in slow motion gave her a lot of time to think. Part of her acknowledged that she must keep hold of Daiki so she did but most of her thoughts however, were centred around the landing bit. She looked back at the wall of bloody fire following them barely a meter behind and then at the hard ground behind her. This was going to hurt. But as she braced for impact she saw a kind of smoke curl over her body as if she was being cloaked in dirty fog. The unbearable heat disappeared and a strange cool interrupted it. She lay on the ground beside Daiki a second later watching the fire blast overhead. Just like dreaming in the shade on a hot summers day. The landing hadn't hurt a bit.

By the time the cloak faded the raging fire had gone. She sat up slowly and winced as the muscles twitched in her wounded leg. Where they had stood moments ago all there was were the scorched stumps of smouldering trees. The explosion had covered a one hundred meter radius. Talk about a lucky escape. She crawled over to Daiki and rolled him onto his back.

"Daiki? Say something." she said giving him a gentle shake.

All that talk about autumn leaves and decay... Hadn't they just been the words of a madman?

"Come on, wake up you idiot!"

She pulled him upright and gasped as he wept blood. His whole face became covered in it in seconds and she could see where his head had been, a pool of it had soaked into the dry earth.

"No..." she breathed. How was this possible? The medical corps... That's what the stranger had said. She had to take him there. Lady Sakura would know what to do.

"You're stronger than this Daiki." she resolved dragging him up once more. She felt lighter now, more powerful. She could do anything. "The people on my team are going to be the strongest of them all. So this is nothing, you hear me? We will survive worse than this, believe it!"


	13. Chapter 13

Shikamaru raised his head as the door opened and Lady Sakura walked into the room. Sometimes when he compared her to other people their age she really did look like she hadn't aged a day,

"How's bomb disposal going? You found any more of them?" she asked setting a bottle and syringe down on the table.

"We're doing a final sweep but after the last twelve checks there have been no sign. The wood style ninja have already regrown the forest so it's almost as if nothing ever happened."

"Almost..."

He could hardly bring himself to looked at his injured team. It was bad enough what had happened to Daiki, but Numa... he'd never be able to bear the shame. It should have been him.

"I've made a terrible teacher. I don't know what Naruto was thinking, giving me such responsibility."

"Oh stop feeling so sorry for yourself. You got the best team of the year! They saved the village and more importantly they saved each other. Things I bet you didn't think they'd be capable of doing in a million years, let alone on their first day."

"Yeah...but still..."

He took a long drag from his cigarette and stared out the window at the sunset. Two days had passed since the explosion and so much had happened since then. Finding Numa carrying Daiki down the road covered in Daiki's blood and her own. Daiki's terrifying condition that had nearly killed him. But most disturbing of all, Fin's strange appearance after all the commotion was over.

"Did they make it Sensei? Are they going to be alright?" Fin had asked anxiously the moment after Daiki and Numa had been taken into the hospital for emergency treatment.

"Of course Fin. They escaped just in time. Hold on a minute... How did you know they'd be here? Actually... Where have you been? I've been worried sick!"

Fin hadn't replied. He'd just nodded once and walked away. Only after he'd left had Shikamaru seen that the boy's face and hands had been covered in soot and patches of his clothes had been completely burned through. Almost as if he'd been in some sort of terrible explosion... All he knew now was that in the twenty eight hours his students had gone missing they may have encountered something far bigger than simply a network of paper bombs. He just had to hope he could train them in time to survive their next encounter with it.


	14. Chapter 14

The last thing Daiki remembered was a crushing pain issuing from every nerve in his body, falling fast and finally red stars erupting across his field of vision. Then it had all been soothingly dark and cool after the terrible heat that had been seeping into his body for the last day and night. Like drifting into a blissful twilight.

This meant waking up was a dreadful struggle even though he knew he had to. He could see the world passing him by with terrific speed just beyond his eyelids but they had clamped shut like a tonne of lead rested on each. He just felt so tired. He could have slept forever. Eventually though, when the time felt right and cool breeze was washing over his face, his mind cleared and he forced his way out into the light. He recognised the inside of the hospital from his many visits to see his grandmother before she died but had never actually stayed here himself. He glanced across at the bed beside his own and saw a blue haired girl sitting up and reading a book. Vision still slightly blurred he couldn't make out the title. Legendary something or othery...

"Good book?"

"You still alive?" came an irritable voice from behind the flurry of pages.

"If you ask me nicely." he responded automatically.

"Piss off Dai."

"Dai? I can work with that." He tried to sit up and regretted it instantly as nausea hit his brain and guts with a sledge hammer. He rolled over to the side of the bed and retched violently into a basin. It had a delicate pattern of navy blue flowers around the edge of it. What a nice touch. Nothing came up but stale saliva and in its anger his stomach cramped with unbearable force that brought tears to his eyes.

"Idiot." Numa muttered placing the bowl back on the floor and wiping his sticky mouth with a wad of paper. "You shouldn't push yourself."

"I feel like crap." he moaned flopping back on the pillows after a large gulp of water from the glass she offered him.

"Well yeah, I guess you would. Your chakra poisoning is the most extensive lady Sakura has ever seen."

"Chakra poisoning?"

"It's rare, but a malevolent chakra like the one you were exposed to can tear your body apart from the inside if the user wishes it. You're lucky that you had such a high resistance to it."

"Yay for me." he murmured closing his eyes to block out the light.

"Yeah yay for you. Of course if it had been me, I wouldn't have gotten stuck in the first place."

"Shut up Numa." he said distractedly staring at the end of his sheets. Had a... flower bed just snuck through the door?

"Are those all from my mum?"

He heard a stifled laugh from behind the book that he could now see said Legendary Shinobi tacticians of the twentieth century. "Not all of them. I think some people thought you were going to die and brought flowers for your funeral in advance." She put her book down and limped towards the baskets of fruit, great bouquets of roses and wild flowers and boxes of chocolates tied up with coloured ribbons. She plucked at the label on one of them and read it aloud.

"Dear Daiki,

Hurry up and die already! In a few months this coffin I've made won't fit you anymore.

Lots of love

The Undertaker."

"That is almost mildly amusing. I didn't know you had it in you... Wait, it doesn't actually say that does it?"

She smirked and shook her head before leaning down to pick up her crutch.

"What happened to your leg?"

"The same thing that happened to your body. The guy who attacked you with that chakra wasn't very happy about us leaving his cosy little death trap and stabbed me in the leg."

"What guy?"

"Beats the hell out of me. I've run a description of him through every data base there is and so far, no one has a clue. But they know I can't possible be making it up because you had such a large sample of his chakra in your body. None of the Jonin have ever seen anything like it."

"What did he look like?"

She chewed her lip for a moment as if remembering something she wished she hadn't "He was... Very red."


	15. Chapter 15

It was a week after that before they resumed training and Shikamaru still felt on edge as he put his team through manoeuvres outside of the village walls. There were guard posts a mile out from where they trained so he needn't have feared but still... How many times would he have to go through all that again before his students could officially take care of themselves?Of course, out loud that sounded ridiculous considering what they had all just dealt with but he couldn't help the way he felt. They still _looked_ like kids no matter how skilled they were.

As for group dynamics, he couldn't believe the progress Daiki and Numa had made and for the first time he was getting to see their individual jutsus which he soon found out, though requiring much improvement, were forces to be reckoned with. Their chakra levels were pretty intense without even trying and Numa's wind type mixed with Daiki's water type chakra could make for incredible combination attacks if they could cooperate.

Fin on the other hand... Was a dismal disappointment. After such a promising first lesson Shikamaru has been convinced that he would be the one who would excel the most. Evidence of that he was yet to see. Daiki and Numa had amazing potential with their chakra level, whilst Fin's was next to that found in a rock. Daiki could coat his body with diamond hard silver fish scales when he fought whilst Numa could slice and dice her opponents with a single swish of her skirt that had an extra long train for this purpose and edges lined with steel. Fin could throw a kunai in a straight line and do the most basic taijutsu. His fitness level was good enough as was his attendance record but that was as far as it went. And no matter how much encouragement Shikamaru offered him, he showed no sign of improvement or any spontaneity. As for before and after lessons it was as if he didn't exist. He could have almost pitied the boy if he wasn't such a drag.


	16. Chapter 16

Numa wolfed down her sushi still stinking of sweat after training. Shikamaru Sensei had taken no prisoners over the last two months and finally mission assignments were tomorrow. Daiki, she had discovered, was an eater equally disgusting to herself so it was like having lunch in front of a mirror whenever they sat together. Absolutely unbearable and without any grounds for complaint.

"Spray that again?" she said making sure her own mouth was rice free whilst he swallowed and repeated his sentence.

"Is Fin actually coming tomorrow?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"He's not a bad guy Numa."

"Yeah but he's not a good one either. I hate people who are so damn neutral. He doesn't even talk for God's sake!" She stuffed another piece of sushi in her mouth and munched on it furiously.

If only Fin was... Well anyone else would do if she was honest. Kai would have been ideal, or that guy that had saved them in the forest from Mr Red psychopathic killer. She still had no idea who she should be thanking for that because after searching the leaf she had come across no one who had a "smoke" jutsu anywhere. At least it had looked like smoke. Shikamaru Sensei had just shrugged. It was highly likely that both of them had perished in the blast anyway and that didn't sit well with her at all. Someone dying for her was a sickening thought. Especially when she had no idea who they were.

"Listen Numa, without Fin, you and I would be back at the academy right now stuck with the class below us waiting for another year and another chance. I get where you're coming from, believe me, but on missions there is nowhere he'll be able to disappear off to. We'll be together 24/7."

"Oh joy. How is that supposed to make me feel any better?"

He thought for a moment. "Actually... That does sound pretty bad when you put it like that."

"My point exactly."

"What I meant to say is that he'll have to start pulling his weight when we get in a tight spot."

"And what if he can't? What if Fin is physically incapable of helping us out? If he's just that hopeless no matter how much he trains, then we're gonna be in huge trouble when times get tough."

"Not with Shikamaru Sensei there to help. It won't be like before. He'll lead us. He'll tell us what to do, just like in training. If you're that worried about Fin slowing us down then tell him not to come. I'll back you up. We'll force him if we have to. In fact I'm going to find him right now. Let's go to his house and tell it to him straight."

"Good idea, if you know where it is."

It took a lot of asking around but eventually they found the right apartment. It was in a built up area on the outskirts of the village behind an old weapons store with a special offer on cross bows for only 40 yen. It looked a bit dodgy to Daiki, especially the apartment building. The land lady, a large bosomed woman smoking a pipe, showed them in but said that Mr Hayashi was never home until one or two in the morning if they were prepared to wait that long. They weren't but couldn't help having a snoop around anyway. It was very tidy and clean inside, though dim because the curtains were drawn. It actually felt surprising cosy. The place was all one room with a bathroom next to the door and a kitchen area to one side with a fridge and a small table and chair. There was a seldom used TV in the corner, a low bed in the other and a few pictures dotted around and about. He looked more closely at the photos, feeling already kind of bad for being so nosy, and saw the largest was filled with hundreds of people. They were all laughing at the person taking the photograph or so it seemed, but he also recognised none of them and they all appeared to be wearing black or dark colours that looked black. It looked like a kind of uniform but there was nothing formal about it. They were Shinobi. Shinobi from another village perhaps, but definitely ninja. He could make out a couple of rows of children standing or sitting at the bottom of the group in random clumps and clusters. He could just see Fin seated on a man's shoulders grinning at the camera. The expression was real and full of feeling, something seemingly alien to the boy he knew...or thought he knew, today.

The photo beside it was a family one. Fin looked to be an only child but his pregnant mother stood next to him and his father behind. They both had their arms wrapped around him as he blew out the candles on a lopsided birthday cake. There were a few others but Daiki looked away. He had no idea what to think but one thing was for sure. They shouldn't have come here.

They left the apartment with only the information that Mr Hayashi often went in a northerly direction out of the village. The rest they would have to find out on their own.

"I've never seen a village like that one before." Numa said as they trailed northwards looking for clues and finding nothing. "There aren't any uniforms like that in the archives."

"What I'd like to know is where are they all now? Why would their kid come all the way to the leaf? Do you think... That he's some kind of spy?"

Numa frowned. "We can't rule out that possibility."

"In that case we should take this up with Shikamaru Sensei. Tell him that any mission we go on might be jeopardised. Maybe we should talk to the Hokage-."

"Hold on a minute pea brain! What if we're wrong? Then everyone including Fin will know that we've been nosing around in his stuff. You shouldn't start blowing things out of proportion."

"And what if we're right? We can just let this slide. Lives could be at risk!"

"Why? Because someone on our team wasn't born in the leaf? We can't jump to conclusions. If we're going to do anything, we should think about confronting Fin first."

"Before or after he gets us killed?"

"It won't come to that."

"How do you know?"

"Because we'll be ready for him. Besides, what better time to start collecting evidence on him than when he tries to betray us on an actual mission? Nowhere to hide, remember?"


	17. Chapter 17

The mission was Rank C. The objective was to safely escort four Hidden Sand Shinobi with top secret intelligence back to the leaf. It was unlikely that anyone would try to intercept them. Numa actually felt pretty bored after her brush with death to be standing in the Kazekage's office listening to him and Shikamaru Sensei talking about the good old days like a couple of old pensioners.

"And the Leaf? I heard about what happened from Naruto. Did you find the culprit?"

"We're still investigating but there was very little evidence left after the explosion."

"So these must be the ones who fought off the intruder?" the Kazekage said addressing them for the first time. He looked nothing like Naruto and his dark eyes could quite easily draw you into their depths of you made contact with them.

"Yes sir." she and Daiki said simultaneously. Fin stood behind them and said nothing. He probably felt left out.

"Impressive. They have a skilled selection of Genin this year. Perhaps you should come and educate the Shinobi in the Sand some time. They all really look up to people like you. I think you've both become quite famous amongst all the Hidden Villages."

Numa saw Daiki grin out of the corner of her eye and gave him a subtle nudge in the ribs with her elbow.

"It's certainly become top of the list on the syllabus this year. Disarming paper bombs that is. I doubled my security like the Hokage suggested but so far there has been nothing..."

The two older men talked for another half an hour before saying their farewells. As they left however, the Kazekage beckoned Fin closer whilst the door closed upon the rest of them.

"What's Fin doing Sensei?" Numa asked straining to hear the hushed voices inside the office.

Shikamaru shrugged. "What is it to you?"

Senesei's way of saying mind your own business. She took the hint and didn't badger him anymore.

Still, being praised by the legendary sand Shinobi Gaara, Jinchuriki of the one tail, nearly made her heart burst in her chest. She had hardly been able to contain herself in his presence and had almost rushed at him for an autograph.

She glared at Daiki behind her who was still peeking through the keyhole and he stood up sheepishly to follow them. Idiot. Couldn't he take a hint?

"You must be Fin Hayashi." the Kazekage said when the door closed. Fin gave a small nod in acknowledgement.

"You were in the forest too?"

The boy said nothing but the answer was clear.

Gaara sat back and looked carefully at him. His presence was surprisingly intimidating once he stepped out of the shadows but still shady and vague. As if his body and mind weren't quite all there. His seriousness however, was like looking into a mirror. He just hoped that Fin wasn't anything like the way he had been when he was his age. "I see. Should I be as worried as Naruto says I should be then? Has it really come to that?"

The boy nodded again. "I think you ought to triple security rather than double it and make no more unnecessary errands outside the village. These people can be unpredictable. They want to make their presence known. They believe they deserve respect and they will do anything to get it. But most importantly, they want the love of your people and every generation after. You have no idea what they are capable of. They can watch and they can wait. They'll strike hardest when you are weakest and rule like tyrants over you to get their way. It isn't a matter of worry anymore my lord. It's a matter of survival."

Gaara sighed. There were so many stories like this one about so many enemies in the world, that this was probably the least terrifying description of one he'd ever heard. The mere mention of the Akatsuki still had the power to make his hands shake and memories of them could cause him wake in a cold sweat trembling even after all these years. Iris...was about as solid and permanent as a rainbow. All the information they had in then came from a few fifteen year old flyers yellowing at the back of a rusty filing cabinet somewhere, and this one boy's word that, though Gaara could sympathise with, couldn't read as gospel. "You do realise that no one alive has ever actually seen this threat you speak of?"

"I am well aware of that sir."

"But you claim that the entire Hidden Shadow was wiped out by this relatively small group of Shinobi?"

"That is correct my lord."

"Then I have a dilemma don't I? How can I trust you? You have no proof of their existence other than the graves of your family. We do not have inexhaustible resources out here in the Sand to keep that much man power on the borders of the village. Sooner or later people will start asking questions and getting nervous. Trying to explain an invisible enemy to the populous will be as difficult as it sounds. I just wouldn't be able to justify it."

"So you're not prepared to take action then?"

"I can't until I have proof. I'm sorry Fin but all we can do is wait and see what tomorrow brings. You must try to understand."

The boy nodded but through the mask of courtesy Gaara couldn't fail to notice the bitter intensity of his disappointment. It was almost enough to make him reconsider. "Just so long as when the time comes you don't let your village meet the same end as mine, Lord Gaara. It's not a very pleasant way to die."


	18. Chapter 18

"Oh man my feet hurt." Daiki groaned yanking his shoe off and tossing it to one side. He inspected his toes and grinned. "Numa, be a dear and give me a massage." brandishing his foot in her face with a flourish.

"Uurgh! No way! That is so unbelievably gross!" Numa reeled backwards clasping nose with her hand and throwing a bowl in his general direction.

He lay back on his roll mat cackling as she muttered something about boys!

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and told them to start behaving like proper Shinobi in front of the Hidden Sand but the other adults didn't seem to mind.

Fin crouched by the cooking pot, stirring whilst staring into the darkness.

"See anything out there?" Shikamaru Sensei asked casually, not really expecting an answer.

Fin shook his head slowly but continued to stare. Suddenly he froze. He dropped the spoon in the stew and stood looking harder at the blackness through the trees.

"Put your shoe back on Daiki." he said softly pulling out three kunai and holding them like a fan in his left hand.

The others looked in the direction he was for nearly a full minute until, like ghosts, they appeared. A man and a woman, with skin as white as chalk and eyes like small moons bulging out from their faces, drifted through the tree line. They looked like they should have been blind but from the way they walked, he could tell that they weren't. The whiteness of their skin and silken clothes made them seem as if they were glowing. They held hands like two children walking through dream.

"Who are you?" Shikamaru Sensei asked loudly, clearly not fazed at all by this unexpected encounter.

They did not answer though they did give a gentle smile to each of them in turn. To Daiki it made him feel good inside to have earned such trust from these enchanting strangers. But at the sight of Fin's drawn weapons they frowned with displeasure, as if of one mind.

"Fin, they don't like that. Put down your weapons." Daiki suggested.

The reply he got was possibly the strangest and most alarming thing he'd ever heard in his life.

"Ha ha. Hell no. I'd rather lose a thumb."

The woman's face crumpled at this as if she were about to cry and like that, she and Fin disappeared.

There was a loud ringing that made the air vibrate and Daiki gazed upwards startled as the two of them clashed in midair. So fast! He hadn't even had time to blink. Their movements were a blur, black against white.

The messengers they were escorting gasped in terror and ran with their scrolls for the trees but the man was right there in front of them, smiling gently all the while. Daiki was still sitting on his blanket with his foot half way into his shoe unable to believe what was happening.

"Pull yourselves together you two! This is what you trained for! Take those messengers and head back to the Leaf!" Shikamaru Sensei yelled darting towards the man who stood completely motionless ten meters away. Shadow paralysis jutsu shot towards him but then he vanished too. In a white streak he joined the fight against Fin, apparently having more interest in killing him than anyone else.

"Fin, look out!" Numa screamed, her voice hitting an earsplitting range. There was another eery ring as the three fighters collided with incredible force. For a second they hovered locked together in the moonlight but then the strangers in white dissolved into clouds of fine powder. They merged together as Fin landed lightly back on the ground. He rummaged calmly amongst his weapons as the cloud of dust took form.

"Didn't you hear me you two? Get out of here!" Shikamaru yelled at them. "I'll make sure he follows right behind you, now move!"

Daiki looked back just in time to see Fin facing off against a gigantic moth with gaping jaws as tall as a house, before the trees swallowed them up and he was forced to just focus on running.

"We shouldn't leave them! Those guys are dangerous."

"This is teamwork Daiki. Don't waste the time they're giving us." Numa responded.

"Team work? We just abandoned them-"

"Daiki, follow Sensei's orders! Don't forget our mission. These people need our protection. Believe me, I'd readily turn back if it wasn't for that."

Daiki had to concentrate on not falling out of the trees after that but it did little to help take the edge off his anger. Anger directed mainly at himself. Why hadn't he done something?


End file.
